


holding you, until you fall asleep

by rosyafternoons



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Drowning, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmare, Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 22:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16376450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosyafternoons/pseuds/rosyafternoons
Summary: rayla has a nightmare. claudia is there to help her.





	holding you, until you fall asleep

Everyone has a fear. Whether it be heights, or the dark, or even rejection, everyone has something that they’re afraid of - something that will stop them dead in their tracks and have their mind screaming out in panic. 

For Rayla, that fear was water - oceans, rivers, ponds, you name it. Although she couldn’t pin-point exactly why, exactly what it was about it that instilled such a primal fear within her, every time she came to face with water, it was as if everything in her mind started to panic. Maybe it had something to do with water being different from everything she’d ever known. She was, after all, a moonshadow elf, and the only elves that were taught to swim in Xadia were the ones of the water element. 

Rayla had never really felt a connection with water, and maybe that was why she didn’t like it - the uncertainty, the unfamiliarity and the little knowledge she had about it just made her feel uneasy. Maybe it was just a moonshadow elf thing – she didn’t think she’d ever seen Runaan or any of the other elves in the water before. She really had no way of being sure, though. There was one thing that was certain: she did not like water. 

So naturally, as she sinks deeper into the blue abyss that surrounds her, Rayla’s heart races. She twists her head, hair swishing with the movement, and tries to make out something, anything, in the vast distance, but all she sees is the infinite stretch of blue in every direction all around her. Her gaze tilts upward, and she sees the surface growing further and further away as she descends. 

She tries to swim upward, flails her arms and thrashes her legs and hopes that it’s enough to propel her, but she keeps on falling. Suddenly, she’s painfully aware of the lack of oxygen in her system, and feels her lungs start aching for air. The panic sets in, and she continues writhing around. 

She feels like there’s a coil wrapped around her, pulling and constricting tighter and tighter until there’s no room left to breathe. She can feel her body’s desperation, and knows that even if she knew how to swim, her body is too exhausted to be able to. She tries to think of a way out, but nothing comes to mind. She can’t think at all, because all she sees is blue, blue, blue, and all she can feel is the fear in her gut, heavy as stone, weighing her down, and down, and down.

Her heart hammers, and she hears each palpitation louder than anything she’s ever heard before. It thrums in her eardrums and she feels it in her head, in her bloodstream, coursing through her veins. Her body feels like it’s on fire, burning her alive. She’s running out of air. She’s running out of air. She’s going to-

Rayla jolts awake and gasps, heart still beating a mile a minute. She sits upward and her eyes dart around the room, disoriented. Her chest heaves. 

“Rayla?” A voice croaks out from beside her. 

She looks down to her left, and sees Claudia blinking up at her, half asleep. She’d woken her up in her frenzy. 

“Sorry,” she whispers back, calming down from the panic she was experiencing mere seconds ago, “Had a nightmare.”

She sees Claudia’s face soften immediately. She bites her lip, and after a beat of silence asks, “Are you okay?” 

Rayla blinks, not used to being asked the question, and she replies, “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Okay,” Claudia smiles sleepily, and then yawns before lifting up the blanket and patting the space next to her, “Come here,” she says, and holds her arms out. 

Rayla gladly accepts her invitation, scooting across the bed until she lays inbetween Claudia’s arms, and then turns around. She snuggles backward until she’s pressed right up against her, until she can hear the beating of her heart against her back. One arm rests around her waist, and the other moves to brush a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Rayla tries to steady her breathing again, so she feels each rise and fall of Claudia’s chest and tries to time them with her own. 

The arm slunk around her reaches for her hand, and then interlocks their fingers with each other. Rayla breathes in deep, and Claudia’s so close she can smell her shampoo and the scented moisturiser she uses every night, and it relaxes her. She wraps around her like a big blanket, and Rayla knows that as long as she’s in Claudia’s arms, she’s safe. 

They lay like that for a while, enjoying the moment, enjoying each other, before Claudia asks, “Do you...want to talk about it?”

Rayla had been trying (but not really succeeding) to fall back to sleep, and the question has her opening her eyes again. She hesitates before replying softly, “I was drowning.”

“Oh,” is all Claudia says, and then, “Is that a...fear of yours?”

“Yeah,” Rayla breathes out. 

Claudia goes silent, and Rayla wonders if she’s fallen asleep, when she says, quietly, “Well, you’re safe now.”

Rayla smiles, even though Claudia can’t see her. She’s so thankful for this, so thankful for Claudia, thankful for having someone she can lie with that will comfort her even when they’re tired. Claudia’s hand reaches up again and entangles itself in Rayla’s hair, moving up and down in slow, gentle strokes. Rayla melts into the touch, completely encompassed with the sudden relaxation. She doesn’t know what she did to deserve someone like Claudia. 

Rayla realises she hasn’t even thanked Claudia for comforting her, so she twists around until she’s face to face with her, and smiles, “Thanks.”

Claudia leans down and brushes her lips against Rayla’s forehead. She closes her eyes, happiness blooming in her chest. She thinks of the way the sun peaks through the trees before it sets below the horizon. She thinks of the stars in the sky on a clear night. She thinks of fresh air. She thinks of the crisp smell of pine trees in the forest. She thinks of _home_. 

“Anytime, angel,” Claudia whispers, and Rayla’s heart melts, “Now get some rest.”

Rayla sleeps easy for the rest of the night. From then on, whenever she gets a nightmare, Claudia is always there to help her.

**Author's Note:**

> funky little wlws !! although this is pretty short + just something quick i wrote because i suddenly had the idea, i had a lot of fun writing it !! hope you like it :)


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